Expected Short Field in Breeders’ Turf Juvenile Means Bittel Road is a Big Underlay

Only 10 horses will be pre-entered for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, run over one mile on the Santa Anita turf course on October 25th, in a few days. That means that the one horse that has shown brilliant form, Bittel Road, no doubt will be the favorite as soon as the field is set.

How good is Bittel Road? Because this is a turf race for two year old males, Bittel Road could be a great horse or a huge underlay. It depends on how much stock online racebook fans put into Bittel Road’s undefeated record. Visually in his last, Bittel Road was absolutely awesome. He went about ten wide around the final turn before running down Driving Snow to record his graded victory. That made it three in a row for Bittel Road.

But what will he do in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf where he will have to face the best of his generation, supposedly, on grass along with the best from Europe?

Bittel Road is trained by Todd Pletcher. That means he could easily improve off of his Grade III Bourbon score. But I won’t be making an online bet on him to do it. Even in an expected short field, I doubt there are more than seven contestants in this affair; Bittel Road won’t be receiving any of my online wagering dollars.

The problem with Bittel Road is that as good as he’s looked, he hasn’t dominated his competition and his competition has been lackluster. He beat Skipadate by a head, for instance, two races ago.

Skipadate could be going off at 8 to 1 or higher in this race. Is Bittel Road, who will probably go off at online wagering odds of 4/5 or less in this, good enough to justify the online odds even though he could only beat an 8 to 1 shot by a head two races ago?

Maybe. Again, Pletcher is the wild card for online betting fans. If Pletcher improves Bittel Road, then Bittel Road could definitely squash a horse like Skipadate.

But then Road will have to deal with the Grade II winners Shaweel and Wesphalia. Shaweel is owned by Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum. Shaweel is a very good horse and because he hails from Ireland no doubt will be ready to dominate the American grass horses in this.

Westphalia is out of the brilliant Danehill. Not only that but he’s trained by Aidan O’Brien. O’Brien is the Todd Pletcher of the European horse racing set sending winner after winner out almost every day at every track.

If he sends Westphalia to the states, then there’s no doubt that Westphalia will be able to run with Bittel Road.

Then there’s the aforementioned Skipadate who should be going off at 8 to 1 but might be going off at a lot less because of his last race speed rating. Skipadate is out of Skip Away who was a champion horse, but has failed to produce any true runner of note.

Skipadate could get outclassed in this race, but with Bittel Road going off at less than even money, he’s yet another that online racebook fans will want to take a look at.

In any case Bittel Road as good as he’s looked will be a short-priced favorite that BetUS online sportsbook betting fans will want to stay away from in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.